Product Info

Platform

Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC

Publisher

PQube

Developer

Twin Hearts

Genre

Action, Adventure, RPG

Players

1-2

File Size (Minimum)

2.0 GB

Release Date (NA)

Sep 2, 2021

Purchase From

eShop

PSN Store

Microsoft Store

Steam

Kitaria Fables is an action-adventure indie game that mixes together role-playing elements, a farming simulation, and crafting. Although a good bit of the gameplay is solid, it requires a lot of time to backtrack for materials, a necessity for completing the game’s story alone. Still, it’s worth playing this cat adventure to 100% completion.

A Story Left Untold

Kitaria Fables’s storyline starts off interesting: darkness returns after a long slumber, making monsters turn vicious across the land of Kitaria. You are a feline soldier who has been sent out with your sidekick to patrol and keep Paw Village safe. You’re also given the task to find out why monsters have become more violent. However, you don’t really find out the cause as other events supersede your original mission.

While the game portrays itself as covering a large area of Kitaria, you’re only adventuring in the section that surrounds Paw Village. Instead of exploring vast lands, you’ll discover more about your family’s heritage and how it affects the kingdom. Upon completing the game’s story, many questions are left unanswered, requiring a trip to the capital. However, you won’t get that chance in this game. Hopefully, a sequel will come that answers them.

A Medieval Zootopia

Outside the story, the characters are all talkative, humanoid animals. Many have roles to help guide you such as teaching magic, creating equipment items, farming, and helping to complete side quests. It’s as if you are in the Disney movie Zootopia but set in medieval times. Some animal species are shown as having specific roles such as brown bears being blacksmiths and dobermans being soldiers. As for cats, the commander and the protagonist are the only felines around, but both have crucial roles in the game.

Your feline hero can use magic, a sword, and a bow. Each has their own unique set of skills that are useful in battle. Additionally, you can change your cat’s appearance from various fur styles such as tabby, white, and gray. The equipment you wear will also change your character’s appearance, reflecting headgear such as a crown, weapons like a large sword, and accessories such as bat wings.

The game’s in-game clock works quickly: a whole day can pass by within an hour in real life. Some events or activities occur at specific times of the day. For example, bats appear at night, and the townsfolk are only up and selling items anytime but at night. The game pauses its clock when in your home or at the local town’s inn, though.

The game’s soundtrack is whimsical and peaceful for the most part, even in dungeons. It picks up during critical scenes and the last battles of the game. That’s about it, though. It’s not a large soundtracks, but it has the necessary number of scores to cover the game.

A Side Quest Game

When compared to other RPGs, Kitaria Fables isn’t a long adventure as a straight-through play can last up to 14 hours. Going for 100% completion and finishing all side quests can take adventurers around 28 hours. That said, the difference between the time spent on the main story and on side quests is quite drastic.

You’ll spend at least 80% of the game doing side quests. For example, to unlock specific food recipes, increase inventory slots for your bag, and get better graded equipment, you’ll have to explore areas each day based on the game’s fast-running clock. Doing these tasks will take time and lots of patience. Some quests won’t activate until you proceed far enough in the game, finish specific side quests, and initiate a chat with the local non-playable character (NPC). Expect to exceed over 100 in-game days to complete the game.

A Quest for Materials

Whether you are creating a new sword, armor or an accessory, you’ll have a list of the ingredients needed. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t give you an in-game notepad or a cheat sheet to help you remember your list. Instead, you’ll have to either memorize the list or write it down yourself. It’s a missing piece that would have benefited adventurers.

Magic, bow, and sword skills also require materials, but some are only obtainable from dungeons and hidden areas inside locked chests. To unlock them, you need to build a specific key, such as a gold key. Gather the necessary materials, and take them to your local friendly bear blacksmith.

Some parts of the game require you to fulfill requirements before going too far. For example, it will have you gathering materials for rebuilding a bridge to explore the south of Kitaria or creating dynamite to adventure the north of the area.

While you can go pretty far with the default weapons and armor, you’re going to need to upgrade your equipment. You’ll encounter tough monsters in specific areas that can drop a rare item and only spawn once per day in the game’s time clock. When your health depletes, your character faints and wakes up back in their bed with a day passed by.

Farmer Cat

Adventuring isn’t the only activity you can do in Kitaria Fables. Farming becomes available early in the game and gives you a large amount of soil to grow many types of plants. While it’s not necessary to use all of the land, you’ll need to grow a specific amount of vegetables or plants to unlock food recipes. Once in a while, there’s rain that’ll fall all day, helping your plants grow. Just make sure you stay on top of watering once a day to see results. Harvest them, and plant new seeds to grow more.

Your land has a nearby well to help with watering and a set of treasure boxes for inventory storage. However, at the start of the game, two of the three chests are damaged and need repair. You’ll have to restore them by collecting the necessary materials to gain more storage.

Tag-Team Felines

Co-op is available in Kitaria Fables, and it’s local only. You don’t need to start a new game for co-op as any save file works. The game requires both players to travel in the same area or the screen resets itself if someone travels off screen. When entering a new area, both players need to cooperate and exit the current area together. Player one has more control options, such as being able to pause the game.

Both parties have their own personal inventory space for materials, weapons, etc. Skills, armor, and weapons will have to be obtained solo. Therefore, expect double the work to obtain the necessary items if you want both players to have powerful equipment.

You and your feline buddy can tackle monsters and dungeons together, making it a fun experience. It’s too bad online co-op isn’t available.

Options to Pounce On

When it comes to options, Kitaria Fables has a nice handful to choose from to help improve the game’s mechanics and game quality. Playing on the PlayStation 5, the game’s resolution can go up to 3840×2160 and up to 120 frames per second. Other adjustments, such as UI scale, screen shake percentage, and anti-aliasing, are nice features offered. Players can even adjust the grass density, textures, and shadow quality to their likings. Don’t like the combat arrow? You can turn it off.

For those who own the PlayStation 5, the game does not utilize the DualSense haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Regarding downloadable content (DLC), there’s a small set of costumes for your feline fighter, but it’s not worth the cost as it only adds cosmetic features.

The Final Adventure

Kitaria Fables isn’t perfect and has a handful of small issues. Still, with a good mix of adventuring, farming, and crafting, it’s a fun game whether you experience the game solo or with a partner. Grab your sword and prepare for a meowtastic adventure.

A PlayStation 5 review code provided for this review and gameplay footage.